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Poetry · Poem

My Bonnie Mary

Robert BurnsScottish Romantic eraPoem
SOURCE TEXT · English original
GO fetch to me a pint ’o wine,
An’ fill it in a silver tassie,
That I may drink, before I go,
A service to my bonnie lassie.
The boat rocks at the pier o’ Leith,
Fu’ loud the wind blaws frae the ferry,
The ship rides by the Berwick-law,
And I maun leave my bonnie Mary.

The trumpets sound, the banners fly,
The glittering spears are rankèd ready;
The shouts o’ war are heard afar,
The battle closes thick and bloody;
But it’s no the roar o’ sea or shore
Wad mak me langer wish to tarry;
Nor shout o’ war that’s heard afar—
It’s leaving thee, my bonnie Mary!
Cultural reading

Reading the poem

Before boarding, the speaker calls for wine in a silver cup to drink a toast to his love, then says that neither the roar of sea and shore nor the noise of war, but only leaving her, makes parting hard.

Language notes

Text and edition

The text is in Scots (tassie, blaws, frae, fu', maun, wad mak) and the spellings should be read as dialect forms rather than errors.